image: Drs. Antreas Charidimou (left) and Marcel Verbeek (right) to co-lead new research on cerebral amyloid angiopathy
Credit: Boston University & Radboud University
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a common cause of brain bleeds in older adults and an important contributor to cognitive impairment and dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. However, the condition remains difficult to accurately diagnose and currently lacks targeted treatment options.
CAA is characterized by the abnormal buildup of amyloid-beta protein in the walls of the brain’s blood vessels. Over time, vascular amyloid accumulation can damage and ultimately weaken the vessels, increasing a person’s risk of hemorrhagic stroke and contributing to cognitive decline.
Although CAA is found in the brains of more than half of patients with hemorrhagic stroke and in the majority of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, much remains unknown about how the condition develops and progresses.
To advance scientific understanding of CAA, the Leducq Foundation has awarded Drs. Antreas Charidimou of Boston University and Marcel Verbeek of Radboud university medical center (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) an International Networks of Excellence Program award. This $9 million, five-year grant will support their project, “Translational Framework For Innovation in Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (TRAFFIC).”
The goal of this research is to improve understanding of critical steps in the pathobiology and the early detection and diagnosis of CAA, an essential step toward enabling earlier interventions and developing future therapies. The international research team will combine advanced brain imaging with new molecular biomarkers and innovative experimental models. By studying brain scans, body fluids and tissues, and clinical data from patients worldwide, the researchers aim to uncover how CAA develops, progresses, and causes damage to the brain’s blood vessels, including inflammatory forms of the disease (CAA-related inflammation and ARIA).
A core component of the initiative is training the next generation of CAA scientists. Through mentorship, funding, and hands-on opportunities across participating laboratories, the network will equip early-career researchers with the skills and collaborative experience needed to advance the field.
“CAA is among the most common pathologies affecting the aging brain, yet fundamental unanswered questions about how the disease develops and progresses continue to limit clinical progress, including our ability to diagnose it accurately and early,” said Dr. Charidimou. “By bringing together complementary expertise across clinical, molecular, and experimental research, TRAFFIC is designed to address these gaps while fostering the next generation of CAA investigators. We hope this network will have a lasting impact on the field and ultimately improve care for patients at risk of brain bleeds and cognitive decline.”
Drs. Charidimou and Verbeek, co-leaders of this research, both specialize in neurodegenerative disorders with expertise in CAA. Dr. Charidimou’s work focuses on how damage to the brain’s small blood vessels contributes to neurological conditions and the integration of novel biomarkers into clinical practice. Dr. Verbeek’s research centers around biomarker development and validation, as well as investigation of molecular mechanisms of disease. Together, their complementary backgrounds bridge vascular and molecular approaches as well as fundamental and clinical research, helping to drive the research toward translational insights and clinical applications.
“Over the past 10–20 years we have learned a lot about CAA, and this has evolved clinical diagnostic criteria. However, these [criteria] clearly fall short in identifying the entire spectrum of CAA, since they are solely focused on neuroimaging signs,” said Dr. Marcel Verbeek. “These are typically late-stage signs, whereas we know that molecular biomarkers will be abnormal earlier on. So, that is why we aim to work towards a new framework for diagnostics, incorporating the newest insights into molecular mechanisms.”
In addition to Drs. Charidimou and Verbeek, the TRAFFIC network includes Dr. Matthew Schrag of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville), Dr. Steven Greenberg of Harvard Medical School (Boston), Dr. Mar Hernández Guillamon of Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (Spain), Dr. Stephanie Schreiber of Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (Germany), and Dr. William Van Nostrand of the University of Rhode Island.
By integrating clinical, molecular, and experimental research, the TRAFFIC network aims to generate critical insights into the mechanisms of CAA, improve diagnostic strategies, lay the foundation for future therapies, and build a lasting international community of CAA researchers.